1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to doll stands, i.e., to stands for supporting and holding dolls. When in use the stand has a support part which is positioned between the legs of the doll and which extends vertically to the lower body of the doll. The support part is attached to an element which keeps it in the vertical position.
Dolls produced before and shortly after 1900 are referred to as antique dolls and are today valuable, and in some cases extremely valuable, collectors items. Such collections form the basis of many doll museums. In museums the visitor sees the dolls displayed alongside each other. They are held on the rear side by the doll stands and the viewer can see their faces and the fronts while the legs are held identically and monotonously on the base plate of the stand.
Fashion dolls, for example, which in the 19th century were dressed exactly to scale in the latest fashion and sent abroad for advertising purposes were lovingly viewed from all angles. These and the equally wonderful girl and boy dolls cannot be displayed in profile or in their all-round beauty using the customary doll stands.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,915 to Cindric et al. describes various groups of doll stands. The following specification expands on that grouping and provides a further, expanded overview of the field.
Group A: Doll stands that require the support part to be inserted into an opening or drilled hole in the doll made for this purpose. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,009,284, the holes are formed in the feet.
Group B: Doll stands that grip the feet or the legs of the doll at various levels to hold the doll upright. In order for such stands to function properly, it is necessary that the doll be able to stand on its own, i.e. the doll's joints (feet, knee, hips) may not bend under the weight of the standing figure.
Both feet are restrained in accordance with German utility model DE-GM 92 05 187.1 of April 1992. Both lower legs are retrained in accordance with French Patent No. 1,346,680 of February 1963 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,675,362 of December 1970. Both thighs are restrained in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 3,516,632 of August 1968.
These stands require that the doll be able to stand upright on its own. The wire support part extends upwardly between the doll's legs and ends with two horizontally positioned loops at the doll's lower body. These loops wrap around the thighs of the doll and hold them. Both feet must rest on the base plate and support the weight of the doll.
Group C: These stands are characterized by a support part that extends upwardly either behind the rear of the doll or between the doll's legs to the doll's back. The support holds the torso of the doll with a wire clamp, preventing the doll from bending at the hip joints.
An early example of this type of stand is the English Patent No. 18,419, dating from 1889 and patented in the name of an inventor from Sonneberg, the center of the German doll making industry. The wire clamps of that disclosure are angled at the top, which is important as the dolls from that period had noticeably enlarged posteriors. The angle of the line that connects the posterior to the upper back of the doll can be estimated as approx. 10.degree. from vertical. The inventor was obviously undisturbed by the fact that the support part was fully visible, as it did not fit under the clothing worn by the doll.
Shortly thereafter, U.S. Pat. No. 479,481 was granted in 1892. In that disclosure the angled nature of the support part can be clearly seen. This meant that the wire clamp could fit under clothing that was not too tight. For tight-fitting clothing, one must decide whether the bumps in the clothing are acceptable or if the support part should be attached from the outside. With minor variations, this doll stand from the year 1892 represents the type of doll stand construction most commonly used today.
The stand shown in FIG. 2, for example, offers the option of bending the mounting which is fixed to the base plate and onto which the support part is attached. Another variant has a rigid sectional through to the base plate. The support's fixed angle of approx. 6.degree. from vertical is a compromise and is generally too small for antique dolls.
The weight of antique dolls is the next problem for this type of stand construction. Depending on the type of construction--such as very old dolls with paper mache heads and leather bodies or later dolls with articulated bodies and porcelain heads with wigs, elaborate costumes, accessories and jewelry--the weight of various kinds of dolls can be estimated as follows: doll height 40 cm--approx. 0.8 to 1.2 kg; 60 cm--approx. 1.7 to 2.3 kg; 80 cm--approx. 2.9 to 3.7 kg; 100 cm--approx. 4.5 to 5.5 kg.
When such a doll is mounted on this type of stand, certain points have to be considered for optimal positioning: the pressure of the wire clamps may not damage the doll's painted body or clothing; the doll's feet should rest on the base plate; the pressure of the wire clamp should strong enough to securely support the doll; the friction between the sectional tubing and the clamping wire must be great enough to ensure that the wire clamp does not slip. Usually a number of attempts are necessary before these factors can be adjusted properly to each other, which means the doll can be damaged and its value reduced.
German utility model DE-GM 92 05 195.2 of April 1992 may be described as follows: The object of that stand is to allow one leg to move freely, while the other leg supports the weight of the doll. A support part extends upwardly behind the load-bearing leg and holds the torso with a rubber strap. The doll must be able to stand on its own.
A quite interesting suggestion is found in U.S. Pat. No. 352,161, issued in 1886: there is shown a type of construction that has the support positioned between the legs of the doll. Two wire clamps extend upwardly from that support to the lower torso--one on the front side and one on the rear side--which can be adjusted in height. Dolls displayed using this stand are thus supported from the front and from the rear. The doll's legs provide the necessary lateral support. The doll must be able to stand on its own. From an aesthetic point of view, it is interesting that the supporting rod is more hidden from view.
Group D: This group consists of doll stands that have a support part extending vertically behind the posterior of the doll, which has a support arm that is positioned between the legs on the lower torso.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,527,152, issued in 1945, shows a strap extending upwardly on the rear side of the doll, with a 180.degree. angle in the small of the back, which leads between the doll's legs and up the lower stomach of the doll to about the height of the hips. The straps on the back and stomach of the doll are held in place on the lower torso with a belt. For some dolls an alternative is used, in which the strap extends vertically along the stomach of the doll to the height of the hips. From the vertically positioned strap on the rear side of the doll to the strap that is slightly angled away from the body on the stomach of the doll, another strap which is attached to the rear strap extends between the legs. Both of the straps, reach approximately to the height of the hips, are held against the lower torso with a belt. For adjusting height, the straps--which can be considered to be the support--are divided into two parts and have drilled holes, so that the divided straps can be set in place by fixing them against each other. The fact that the height can only be adjusted in a step-by-step manner means that the doll cannot be fully and completely supported. For this reason and due to the low resistance of a single strap on the rear of the doll as a support, this aesthetically less than pleasing construction requires use of the doll's legs for support.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,915 (issued in 1986) allows the height of the doll stand to be adjusted in two places (on the bracket between the legs and on the supporting element on the upper torso). The bracket must be flexible in order to be able to adapt the front part of the bracket to the doll. This flexibility, however, makes the bracket less well suited for supporting larger dolls. Consequently, the bracket cannot be considered as a supporting element and the legs of the doll must bear the weight of the doll.
Group E: This group consists of doll stands that support the doll on a vertical support part extending upwardly between the doll's legs.
With reference to FIG. 1, there is shown a doll stand of the company Mattel Inc. (Malaysia, 1985 3415-Q 503-6-1) for the BARBIE.RTM. doll. The stand includes a flat support part attached to a base plate, which extends vertically between the doll's legs and has a saddle-shaped depression at the top. The lower body of the doll can be placed in this saddle-shaped depression, which supports the doll between the legs from below. In order to prevent the doll from falling forwards or backwards (the doll's legs are supported laterally by the stand), the support has a pair of protrusions on both sides underneath the depression. These hold the thighs of the doll and prevent it from falling forwards or backwards.
This requires, however, that the hip joints be sufficiently stiff, as otherwise the doll's body can fall over, even though the legs are held firmly by the stand. The hip joints must also be stiff laterally, as the protrusions act as a wedge between the legs.
In summarizing the prior art, the term doll show triggers associations such as antique dolls or reproductions thereof. Further, "artistic" dolls have lately become very popular. Those dolls share the characteristic that they are heavy and almost always have rubber cords for making the joints moveable. Generally, those dolls cannot securely stand on their own, especially if the doll in question is old. These factors make Group A and B unsuitable for use with such dolls. Group C and D have the support parts positioned on the edge of the base plate (with the exception of U.S. Pat. No. 352,161), which is unsightly for the viewer.
Additional disadvantages associated with the prior art doll stands may be categorized as follows: Clumsy handling when removing the doll from the stand and positioning the doll on the stand, combined with the adjustments required to make the proper fit, increase the danger that the doll or doll's clothing will be damaged; the doll's clothes are subject to deformation by the stands; the stiff, backward leaning position of the doll resulting from the construction of the stand does not portray natural body posture; effects of the bending and tilting moments arising from the construction of the stand are difficult to estimate; even small dolls cannot be rotated without turning the base plate as well; free movement of the legs is limited.
Groups C and D are limited in application, if, due to weight considerations, the doll's feet must stand on the base plate. Leather bodies with sewn knee and hip joints cannot bear loads. None of the doll stands described could support a leather body "Paulinen" doll, with a height of 78 cm and a weight of 4.6 kg, made around 1840, in a standing position. The joints of dolls with articulated limbs slowly change position and slip. At some point or another, the doll finally comes to rest. Group E stands, such as that of Mattel Inc. as described above, support the doll near the center of gravity and, depending on the size of the stand, can support dolls of all sizes. As was mentioned though, the doll must have sufficiently stiff hip joints. This condition is not met for antique dolls, reproductions and artistic dolls. Hence this type of stand cannot be employed for these types of dolls. This leaves the interesting task of inventing a doll stand, which, based on a support part between the legs, can safely support dolls of any size while simultaneously ensuring optimum display and presentation.